Revive Tabanglong Village

17th February 2019

Tabanglong Village, Tamenglong District

Youth’s Forum for Protection of Human Rights (YFPHR) would like to draw the kind attention of the Government of Manipur and the Deputy and Transport Commissioner of Tamenglong District for their urgent intervention for the betterment of Tabanglong Village, Tamenglong District.

YFPHR learned from the fact finding visit on the 11th of February, 2019 at Tabanglong Village, Tamenglong District that the living condition of the villagers are found to be very backward as compared to the neighboring village like Chingdai and Sempang. The road which leads to reach the Tabanglong village from the main road to reach Tamenglong was found under critical condition that a normal vehicle cannot even enter the village except for 4X4 vehicles.

It took 1 hours walking for the YFPHR team to reach the village from the main road which was found very steep.

Mr. Mosses, Chairman of the Village authority along with the elders of the village informed that due to lack of transportation facilities the agricultural products produced by the villagers cannot reach the Market and gets rotten in the village itself. In order to reach Tamenglong Head Quarter one has to heir a vehicle (Bolero Pick Up or others) at the cost of Rs. 3000-3500/- just one way from Tabanglong to Tamenglong and a sum of Rs. 600/- for an Auto rickshaw to reach Tamenglong from the waiting shed of Tabanglong which is located at the main road after coming out walking for one hour from the main village. It could be noted that one has to pay the unbearable amount just to cover the distance of merely 20 KM.

Tabanglong Village, Tamenglong District

It was informed that the road is terrible during the monsoon season as the road is not black topped or cemented as a result the villagers often face landslide and others water calamities. It was further informed that in case of any medical emergency the patient has to be carried by bamboo made stretches all the way up to the main road to get diagnosed at Tamenglong Head Quarter.

With regard to the livelihood is concern, the villagers earn their livelihood by working at saw mills, carpentry and other daily wage activities. Earlier the villagers earn their livelihood by cultivating orange, king Chilly, Yongchak, zhum cultivation, banana plantation and other vegetables, but at the recent time the cultivation has declined to such an extent due to drying up of the plantation which resulted in reduction of the products.

Due to not able to secure the livelihood by staying at the village large number of villager have been migrated at the nearby Head Quarter or bigger town or to the state capital to earn their livelihood. Not a single government official has visited since the last 10 years to witness the suffering of the people or any agriculture experts to witness the reduction of agricultural products as informed by the villagers.

It was very unfortunate to observe that there were only around 40 villagers found out of the 303 population at the village while the remaining has been migrated in search of their livelihood. After witnessing the suffering and the migration of the villagers, we fear that Tabanglong Village may disappear in the near future as there will be no young generation left to protect the village as YFPHR team could found only 8 children attending Tabanglong Govt. Primary School.

YFPHR, therefore, request the Government of Manipur to reach out to Tabanglong Village and witness the suffering of the villagers, and restore the village which use to be self-sufficient like earlier and construct the road immediately.

Tabanglong Village, Tamenglong District

(Kh Phajaton)
Youth’s Forum For Protection Of Human Rights
Palace Compound West, Imphal East – 795001